A Texas man pretending to be a extremely skilled particular operations veteran was discovered responsible of defrauding victims out of thousands and thousands by claiming drug cartels had been concentrating on them and he might shield them for a steep worth.
Kota Youngblood, 52, also referred to as Saint Jovite Youngblood, was sentenced to 40 years in jail on Wednesday in Austin for conning 32 folks out of greater than $12 million in a scheme dated again to at the least 2010, in line with the Division of Justice.
Youngblood, from Manor, a city about 15 miles outdoors of Austin, satisfied his victims {that a} Mexican drug cartel was after them and supplied them and their family members safety in alternate for cash.
Throughout a recorded dialog with an undercover FBI agent in Could 2023, Youngblood mentioned he at present “freelanced” for the Division of Protection, in line with courtroom paperwork.
He claimed to have served 22 years within the Military’s 82nd Airborne Division and Delta Pressure, a extremely covert and elite Military particular operations power a part of the Joint Particular Operations Command, regardless of FBI investigators discovering no army service information.
Investigators discovered that the fraudster informed his victims he might shield them and their family members utilizing his expertise and connections as a particular operator.
“Lots of Youngblood’s victims had been terrorized considering their households had been in peril; others misplaced their livelihoods to his schemes,” FBI Particular Agent Aaron Tapp mentioned.
One among his victims testified in opposition to Youngblood in federal courtroom in Austin in Aug. 2023, saying that he had recognized him for round six years and their sons had been on the identical hockey crew.
The scammer had his son inform the sufferer that his father wanted to talk with him a few “scenario” involving his ex-wife.
Youngblood then claimed that he and his household “had been in grave hazard,” alleging that his ex-wife was combined up with a Mexican drug cartel.
He informed the sufferer that his ex was making an attempt to have him killed to money in on a $6.5 million life insurance coverage coverage in his identify.
Youngblood then claimed he obtained audio of the ex-wife and cartel members hiring a hitman to kill him via a buddy on the Nationwide Safety Company.
He then requested cash from the sufferer to guard them and his household. The sufferer wrote him a $70,000 verify for his faux providers and later gave him two extra funds of $86,000 and $83,000.
Investigators discovered that the scammer “focused quite a lot of people from his son’s hockey crew.”
Youngblood used intermediaries between himself and his victims to hide his actions whereas working his con. In keeping with investigators, he arrange in-person conferences and prevented discussing his plans over the cellphone or by way of e mail.
He additionally informed his victims—who he known as “buyers”—that the funds can be “paid again with a major return on the cash.”
Accepting verify funds funneled via a enterprise affiliate, he informed his victims the funds to guard their households would double as enterprise investments and provides returns.
Nonetheless, investigators discovered that the con artist gambled many of the cash away in Las Vegas.
“This fraudster developed shut relationships with dozens of people, constructing an immense quantity of belief seemingly simply to destroy their lives financially via elaborate, deceitful misrepresentations,” US Lawyer Jaime Esparza mentioned.
The con man was caught after the sufferer, whose son performed on the identical hockey crew as Youngblood’s son, started working with the FBI after he by no means acquired his a reimbursement.
Youngblood was arrested in July 2023 at Austin-Bergstrom Worldwide Airport on his solution to Las Vegas.
The fraudster was positioned in a Waco detention heart and went to trial in April, the place he was convicted of 4 counts of wire fraud and one rely of cash laundering.
Along with the 480 months in jail, he was ordered to pay full restitution of $12,766,384.
“The 40-year sentence that Youngblood will now serve in federal jail, together with the total restitution paid again to the victims, demonstrates the gravity of those crimes, and it’s my hope that the people and households impacted by his schemes are capable of restore any loss they’ve suffered,” Esparza mentioned.
“Due to our companions on the FBI for his or her investigative efforts that assisted significantly with this profitable consequence of justice.”
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